


Commitments

by Khashana



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming Out, F/M, Found Family, Friendship, Hugs, I have exactly one headcanon for how Zuko figures out he’s gay in all universes, M/M, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Sokka Has Two Hands, Time Skips, blink and you miss it aro Toph, take my italics away over my dead body, with ATLA and LOK but I haven’t read the comics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khashana/pseuds/Khashana
Summary: Zuko's friends help him navigate taking over ruling the Fire Nation--and beyond. A series of conversations with Zuko.
Relationships: Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 161
Collections: AtLA <10k fics to read





	Commitments

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the zukkanet event 01: song lyrics, using Deadlines and Commitments by the Killers.  
> Not Disrespect!verse.

Iroh is climbing onto an eel-hound, and Zuko is panicking slightly.

“Uncle—I don’t know the first thing about running a country!” says Zuko.

“Nonsense,” says Uncle cheerfully. “Look inside yourself, nephew, and you will find the answers you seek. And your friends will be here to advise you and keep you safe. If I remain here, I will be seen as the power behind the throne, and the people must believe in _you,_ Prince Zuko. Oh, my apologies. Firelord Zuko.”

Zuko smiles despite himself and controls the urge to adjust his crown self-consciously.

“Lean on your friends and trust in yourself. I would not go if I did not think you could handle it. And I am, after all, only a hawk away if you truly find yourself in need of advice.”

Zuko throws his arms around his uncle and clings for a moment. Iroh holds him.

“Will you order the colonies evacuated?” Iroh asks—lightly, like he’s just curious. Zuko pulls back and shakes his head. “Not right now. And not all together like that. People have lives there. Some of those towns depend on Fire Nation commerce now. I can order the military presence removed, but everything else will have to be handled on a case-by-case basis to make sure it’s done _right._ The towns that are just occupied can be returned to the Earth Kingdom immediately, but Da Xia is completely integrated, and it might actually make more sense to leave it alone. I’m going to have to feel it out and see whether the bad optics balance out with the cost of decolonizing it.”

“And the factories? Will you destroy them?”

“Repurpose, I think. I studied the commerce of the Fire Nation for years before I was banished, so I think can I can figure out which ones are load-bearing to the economy and find something else for them to produce. Reparations, maybe, or whatever the locals need. I’ll also have to see how they’re affecting the local environment. Some of them will need to be completely shut down, and maybe some can be run cleanly. There’s got to be _something_ we can do with the waste besides dump it into rivers. I’ve been talking to Katara about it. She shut down one of them, and I’ve seen enough of the world over the past four years to have a pretty good idea of the kind of place they’re built.”

“You spoke of reparations. What reparations will you make?”

“I don’t know yet. Sokka knows the chiefs of both the water tribes, he can make sure we’re providing something appropriate, that isn’t just a gesture, without bankrupting ourselves. Master Pakku, too. I’m hoping you and King Bumi will keep your ears to the ground in the Earth Kingdom. We need to put someone on the throne before we can begin to figure that out. I don’t think King Kuei’s coming back anytime soon, but there must be a line of succession.”

“So you’re drawing on your eight years of education designed for precisely this, your knowledge of the world gained through your extensive travels, and the experience and connections of your known allies.”

“Well…yeah?” Zuko blinks at him for a moment and then buries his face in his hands. “That’s what you were getting at, weren’t you?”

His uncle only laughs.

“You tricked me,” Zuko accuses but he can’t muster any anger.

“The master craftsman can make nothing if he does not first take stock of his workbench.”

“But…Uncle, how do I even keep control long enough to do all that? The head Fire Sage didn’t even want to crown me! The palace has been under Ozai’s control for years. I’m going to get knifed by my hairdresser, or poisoned by my scullery maid, or—”

“I believe,” says Iroh, interrupting his panic, “that your friend Toph is already working her way through interrogations of the entire palace staff.”

Zuko stands dumbfounded.

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You have much on your mind,” says Iroh diplomatically. “When the answers elude you…”

“Ask my friends,” sighs Zuko, nodding. “All right, Uncle. You win.”

“Great timing,” says Toph when he finds her in the courtyard. “ _These_ ones,” and she gestures to a line of servants encased in earth, “are Ozai sympathizers, ordered roughly from ‘hates your guts for not letting Ozai destroy the Earth kingdom’ to ‘has seriously misunderstood the state of the world.’ _These_ ones,” and here she points to a small knot of people sitting against a wall, “are either lying about everything they’ve said to me, or are just terrified out of their wits. They’re _probably_ fine, but in the interests of national security and you not getting assassinated, I’m recommending that you give them however many months’ pay they need to manage until they find more work, and let them go with references. The rest are in the palace with Katara, figuring out a modified workload they can handle with this many people missing. I thought she stood the best chance of convincing them that we’ve all been living rough for months and aren’t expecting five-course meals or warmed satin pajamas. If I do it, they’ll think I’m _wrong,_ and if _you_ do it, they’ll think it’s some kind of test. I figured that much out from listening to them panic over it. Sparky, what—” For Zuko had wrapped her in a hug.

“Hey, listen,” says Aang, catching up to him in the hall. “About your Da Xia problem. I’ve been throwing around this idea of creating an area that celebrates all four nations and doesn’t fall under the rule of any of them. And it occurred to me, a city where the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom are already inextricably tied together sounds like the perfect place to do it.”

“That’s…a great idea, Aang. Come by my room tonight, tell me what you’re thinking.”

“Okay! Oh, and another thing. I’m the last airbender, but there have to be _some_ Air Nomad descendants left, right? Intermarriage and all? Do you know anything about Ty Lee’s ancestry?”

“Okay,” says Sokka, and claps his hands. Zuko and his council pay attention. “I’m holding this class on Water Tribe culture in hopes of none of us ruining negotiations before they start because of some cultural misunderstanding. The first thing you have to understand is we’re all about community. Your tribe is your family. You have to learn to get along because, living on the ice, you can’t go off by yourself or you’ll die. So the Chief is never going to make decisions without consulting at least a handful of other important people, and if you try to get him alone and suggest that he overrule them, or make a deal under the table with you, you’d be insulting his honor.” A murmur fills the room as council members nod in understanding.

“I heard you reversed Firelord Sozin’s decree criminalizing homosexuality,” says Mai. Zuko has no idea whether she’s mad about this, or disgusted, or happy. 

“Uh, yeah. I was talking to the Kyoshi warriors, and one of them was telling me that Kyoshi liked both men and women. Bisexual.” The word is still new to him, but he thinks it rolls off his tongue as though it belongs. “I mentioned that it was illegal in the Fire Nation, and she told me that it was accepted before Sozin, and that on Kyoshi Island it was actually celebrated. So I went and hunted down the decree and revoked it.”

“It’s that important to you.”

Zuko could probably get away with making an argument about how his reign was meant to be a stand against oppression, and that it had made him think about how it was oppressive to tell people who to love. He _could,_ but Zuko has always been a shit liar, and part of him thinks Mai already knows. Part of him wants her to know. “I think,” says Zuko carefully, “that I’m bisexual.” Mai doesn’t answer, so he forges on nervously. “It’s just, I feel the same kind of way about Sokka that I do about you.”

“You want to be Sokka’s boyfriend?” asks Mai, with no change in tone.

“No! That’s not what I mean! It’s the same as it was with Katara, and with Jin when I was in Ba Sing Se.”

“What does it feel like?”

“Like.” He pauses, trying to put it into words. “Like having your attention makes me feel really light. And happy. And I want to keep it for myself.”

Mai arches an eyebrow. It’s the first reaction he’s gotten out of her this entire conversation.

“Zuko,” she says, “have you considered the possibility that you just wanted to be liked?”

…He was not expecting that. Of all the possible answers she could have given him, that one had never pinged his radar. He gapes at her for a moment before managing a shaky, “What?”

“You’ve spent so much of your life alone, Zuko. But you had me, before you were banished, and after you came back. And Jin wanted to get to know you even though you were probably even more of a grouch than usual when you were running around being a refugee. And you left everything to go run after the Avatar, is it any wonder if you valued their acceptance?”

“But…” Zuko bites his lip. He doesn’t particularly want to admit to the other part. Mai, though, has known him far too long.

“Zuko,” she says, moving closer to touch his arm. “do you desire Sokka?”

His face flushes burning hot and he looks away. “Just—dreams?”

“ _Just_ dreams?” He can read her tone a little, now. She doesn’t seem mad at him, just…teasing?

“I catch myself daydreaming occasionally,” he admits. “But because of the dreams! They make me—curious.”

“And they excite you?” She’s close, now, pressed up against his side, speaking in such a low voice that a person two paces away wouldn’t have heard her.

He doesn’t answer her. He can’t. He _can’t._ She knows, she clearly already knows, but you can’t just admit to your future wife (he hasn’t proposed, but they know, they both know he has to marry and who else would it be) that you’re excited by thoughts of other men. It’s not even really that Sokka is a _man,_ but the _disloyalty._ He looks away.

Mai finds his hand and grips it tightly as though to soften the blow when she says, “Zuko, do _women_ excite you?”

“What?” He startles away, somebody between a full-body flinch and an outraged straightening of the spine. “Mai! How—how dare you imply—”

She still has hold of his hand and her voice is quiet, but firm. “If there’s nothing wrong with liking both, then there’s nothing wrong with liking one.”

It’s not really that, and he thinks she knows that. It’s that he’s with _her,_ he’s been with her on and off since they were thirteen years old, and if he _doesn’t like women_ then all of it has been a _lie._ Zuko will not allow himself to have dishonored Mai like that.

She knows him well enough to let him run away.

She probably knows him well enough to know he has torn down his foundation of hiding from uncomfortable truths, that he is no longer capable of lying to himself for any length of time. That every moment his brain isn’t actively occupied it’s probing the question like a loose tooth, until his guard is low enough to actually think about it. To test it.

She’s right. Of course she’s right.

A few tears escape his good eye and leak into the pillow below, but he doesn’t sob. He has too many feelings to name them.

Mai gives him so much space he has to send one of the palace servants to find her for him. She sees him curled under his favorite tree in the garden and comes to kneel beside him, holding him tightly when he pulls her into a desperate hug.

“I love you,” he tells her, as cruel as it is. He has never said it in the way of a marriage to be, they have always expressed their feelings in gestures and touch and _I don’t hate you._ And now, now that he is saying it without the trappings, it is almost a goodbye.

“I know,” she answers.

“I’m sorry.” It is a whisper of shame.

“I know,” she says again.

They sit for a while, until Zuko says miserably, “What am I going to do?”

“You need an heir,” says Mai. “You could take on a ward, or take as a partner a man with a child, but it would strengthen your reign to have a blood heir. If you think that’s worth it, you could marry me as planned.”

He’s so startled he forgets to be upset.

“You would do that?”

“I love you too,” she says instead of answering, and he hears _I forgive you_ and _I want you to have what you need_ and _You are still my friend._

“It seems wrong to hide this from my people,” he says instead of acknowledging it. “This isn’t supposed to be a reign built on lies.”

“My first two suggestions still stand. Or you could tell them after producing an heir. Or you can decide that the consequences outweigh the principle and stability is worth not baring your soul to your country, and no one deserves your truth except you.”

He has no words. He does not deserve her.

“You have options, Zuko. You don’t need to figure it out right now.”

He clutches her tightly, in overwhelmed fear and relief intertwined.

“You know I’m bisexual, right?” says Suki, apropos of absolutely nothing, plopping herself down next to him.

“Is it that obvious?” sighs Zuko.

“Only because I see you every day, and I know what I’m looking for.”

All of a sudden, Zuko wants to cry. He buries his face in his hands instead, and Suki sucks air in through her teeth and manhandles him into a hug, tucking him into her chest.

“It’s gonna be okay, Zuko. I promise.”

“You know Sokka knows about me, right? He’ll be okay if you come out to him.”

“Suki,” groans Zuko, “please shut up.”

“No pressure! Just making sure you know. You don’t have to tell _anyone_ you aren’t ready to tell. I’m on your side.”

“A hawk has just come in from the southernmost colony, my lord. They say the last factory has been shut down, but note that the water is still visibly polluted.”

“Noted,” says Zuko, and puts it down on his list of problems to solve.

But he needn’t have bothered, because Katara catches his arm after the meeting and says, “Zuko!”

“Yes?” he answers, surprised.

Katara straightens, puts her hands behind her back, and says, “I want to lead a team of waterbenders down the rivers affected by pollution and clean them.”

“You can’t do that with one team, it’ll take you years, if you’re going to be meticulous. Set up two teams. Three if you can get enough waterbenders together.”

Katara blinks. “Just like that?”

“Why not? It’s a good idea.”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought you’d say you needed me here, with Toph and Aang already gone.” Zuko puts a hand on her shoulder and smiles.

“You’ve been invaluable. All of you. And I’ll miss having you here. But it’s been three years, Katara. I have allies and advisors I trust now, I have some idea what I’m doing, and I’m the one whose destiny is to run the Fire Nation. It’s okay to leave me here to do it.”

“You sound so matter-of-fact about all of us leaving you.” Katara looks stricken.

“It shouldn’t be long before Aang is ready for us all to join him in Republic City. And if it takes longer than I think, you better write, and visit, or I’ll be forced to start hunting the Avatar and his friends again.”

She laughs. “Well, we don’t want that.”

“I’m not saying I don’t need my friends. I’m just saying it’s okay to follow your destiny, too. And make sure Sokka knows that, will you? He should have a chance to take on some leadership in the Tribe like he’s always wanted, but I think he’s afraid to bring it up.”

“I always was the brave one,” says Katara, nodding seriously, and Zuko’s laugh is so unexpected it comes out as a very unattractive snort.

“Well, _I’m_ not leaving,” says Suki. “I have a _life_ here. It has nothing to do with being worried about you.”

He’s pretty sure _nothing_ is a bit of an exaggeration—being worried about him is literally her job—but he’s grateful nonetheless.

“You’re sure you’re going to be okay?”

“ _Sokka._ We’ll see each other at the end of summer.”

“I know, I know…” Sokka is taller than him now, and broader. When did that happen? He is almost nineteen, Zuko reminds himself.

“Go. I know you miss your family, and your home.”

Sokka tugs self-consciously on his tunic, then claps both hands to Zuko’s shoulders decisively. “Just, you know if you need anything, I’m here, okay? If things get hard, if you need advice, or just a break? You’re always welcome. Write anytime, or just show up. You’ll have a place in the South Pole.”

Zuko’s heart melts, and he tugs his friend in for a hug. “ _Thank you._ ”

Da Xia, or, as it’s been renamed, Republic City, is bright and beautiful, and it warms Zuko’s heart to see Fire and Earth citizens intermingling. There are even a couple of Water Tribe people—a swampbender here, a Northern Water Tribe diplomat there. He supposes it’s harder to convince them to leave the poles (and the swamps.)

Aang’s proposal is to govern by a council with a member of each nation, starting with _them._ Sokka to represent Water, Toph to represent Earth, Aang of course to represent Air, and Zuko himself for Fire.

“Katara didn’t want to stand in for Water?”

“She says politics sounds boring, when she could be helping directly,” says Aang. “She’s not done with the rivers yet—obviously, you know that—and she’s thinking to work directly with the people when she’s done. The council is going to have to remain sorta impartial, so Katara wants to be able to bring the people’s concerns to us. And we’re still searching for Air Nomad descendants in between other things.”

Zuko doesn’t really understand Aang and Katara’s relationship—they’re together, but not? They both do their own thing, but they’re sort of promised to each other, he guesses. Neither of them seems worried about it, and they keep in touch. Maybe it’s a good thing, for them both to have a chance to grow up a little and follow their hearts before really trying to settle down and be a family. What does Zuko know? Suki and Sokka do roughly the same thing, except they both see other people, too.

“Hey,” says Sokka. Zuko opens his arms, and Sokka wraps him in a bear hug. It’s only been a couple of months, but Zuko has already forgotten how attractive Sokka has grown up.

“Wow.” Sokka lets him go and runs a hand through Zuko’s hair. “You look good. I like your hair long.”

“It’s not that much longer than it was last time you saw it.”

“I think I forgot.”

Zuko snickers. “That makes two of us.”

“You forgot how long your own hair is? Or,” he flexes dramatically, “you forgot how good _this_ looks?”

Zuko laughs at him. And desperately wants to kiss him.

“How goes life at the South Pole?”

“It’s good. Not gonna lie, even though I’ve seen a lot of the world? I still feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing. Dad says that never really goes away, which _sucks_.”

Zuko squeezes his arm. “Yeah. I get that.”

Sokka lets his cheer slip from his face and looks at Zuko seriously. “Yeah, you would, wouldn’t you? And you’re doing it alone.”

“Hey, cut that out. I’m doing fine. I’m not alone. I have Suki, and a good council, and the entire White Lotus sending me mail on the regular, plus the Avatar, the next chief of the Water Tribe, the best waterbender and earthbender in the world. And Mai.”

Sokka rests a hand on his shoulder. “You ready to tell me what happened there, yet?”

Zuko feels his face heat and avoids Sokka’s gaze. He hadn’t exactly been able to hide it when Mai left to be a florist, but he’d desperately, inexpertly dodged the questions, and the others had enough tact to drop it.

“It’s okay if you’re not! Just, you brought it up.”

He did bring it up. He doesn’t know why it scares him. Suki’s promised it will be fine. And he’s almost certain Sokka is attracted to men, too.

He opens his mouth, and closes it.

“Hey.” Sokka tugs him in for another hug. “Forget I said anything. Okay? Where were we? You have the entire White Lotus sending you mail, plus all of us and Mai.”

“Are _you_ okay?” He meant to lead into that, somehow, but it just slips out. Sokka blinks in surprise.

“Yeah, man. I’m fine.”

“Not too overwhelmed?”

“Nah.”

Zuko isn’t sure he believes him. “It’s okay if you are, you know? Or if you aren’t now but you are later.” He figures out what to say all in a flash. “You told me once, if I ever needed anything, I could write, or just show up. That I always had a place in the South Pole.”

Sokka nods. “Of course.”

“It’s true for you as well, okay? You can just come, if you need to, or you just want to. I can’t promise I’ll always have a lot of free time, if you show up during festival plans or something, but you’ll always have a bed at the palace. And I’ll always be there to listen if you need to talk.”

Sokka smiles. It’s a quiet thing, real and fond. “Thanks, Zuko.”

Zuko catches Aang in a free moment, pensive and staring out of a window. He’s grown so much since Zuko met him. They’re the same height now, and Aang is long and lanky, having to fold up to fit his limbs into the window seat he’s in. His face lights up.

“Hey, Zuko! Missing the palace yet?”

“Nah,” says Zuko truthfully. “Missed you guys too much.” Aang beams at him.

“No one special back home, yet?”

It’s the same thing Uncle asks him. Except Uncle always said ‘special _ladies_ ,’ up until Zuko came out to him in a stuttering mess of a conversation.

Zuko doesn’t think Aang has _ever_ assumed his sexuality.

“Men,” says Zuko, and it’s easier and harder than he thought.

“Hmm?”

“Anyone special. Would be men.” His face heats and he can’t look at Aang. But he does catch Aang’s smile in his peripheral.

“Noted. I’m honored you told me. I know that’s a big deal now.” Zuko chances a glance at him, and Aang offers a hug. Zuko takes it.

“If I remember right, Gyatso told me that the Avatar always likes women. Regardless of incarnation.”

“Really? But Kyoshi liked both.”

Aang shrugs. “Maybe we’re all bisexual, then. If I like men, I haven’t noticed yet.”

“You have pretty much had eyes only for Katara since you were twelve.”

Aang grins. “Yeah.”

“So what were you thinking about, when I walked in? It looked like it was bothering you.”

Aang sighs, the smile melting off his face. “So you know how it’s mostly Earth and Fire here so far…”

Zuko stumbles in through the door to Sokka’s room in his haste and catches himself on the doorframe.

Sokka sits up from where he’s been stretched out on the bed. “Zuko? What’s up?”

“Mai left because we realized I’m not attracted to women,” says Zuko before he can lose his nerve.

Sokka smiles at him, proud and soft, and stands up to hug him. Zuko melts into his chest.

“I like men and women,” Sokka says into his ear. “So you’re in good company.” Zuko holds him tightly and doesn’t let go for a long time.

“Thank you for trusting me,” says Katara and hugs him tightly.

“Relationships are oogie,” says Toph, wrinkling her nose. “But do what makes you happy, Sparky.”

Their quarterly council session is over, and it’s time for Zuko to depart. Sokka stops by his room early that morning and hugs him again. Zuko’s gotten more hugs this week than he has in the last two months, and he resolves to do something about that.

Sokka draws back just enough to look at him, and runs a hand through the loose part of his hair again. Then he drops it to trace Zuko’s cheekbone with a thumb. Zuko stops breathing.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” murmurs Sokka.

“Are you going to kiss me, or just stand there and say things like that?” says Zuko. Sokka grins at him, bright and beautiful, and kisses him. Zuko loops his arms around his neck and kisses him back.

It’s like sparks, flying from their lips and warming Zuko’s whole body.

And then reality crashes in and he pulls away.

“This is never going to work, you know,” he mutters, tucking his head against Sokka’s shoulder so he doesn’t have to look at him. “I’m the Firelord. I can’t follow you to the South Pole. And you’re practically the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. You can’t follow me to the Fire Nation. At least you and Suki have a future, even though you’re long distance right now.”

“Yeah, I know,” sighs Sokka, squeezing him tightly and resting his head on top of Zuko’s. “Prior commitments, man. Sometimes, they suck.”

So at the next quarter, and the next council meeting, they’re just friends.

And the one after that.

And the one after that.

Zuko’s heart aches every time they say goodbye and he can’t kiss Sokka.

“He’s easy to love, isn’t he?” says Suki, chin in hands.

“I—” starts Zuko, then deflates. “Yeah.”

“Zuko, do you know why so many of my people are polyamorous?”

“Why?”

“Because that way, one person doesn’t have to be your everything. Kaori’s not that amazing at just sitting and listening and validating you. Sokka’s not there all the time. But I don’t go through life going, ‘well if Kaori just checked off one or two more boxes I could be kissing her,’ or ‘if Sokka was just here all the time I could be kissing him.’ I just accept that neither of them is a perfect partner and kiss them both.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“You’re conceptualizing this as two choices. Either one of you gives up everything and lets a bunch of people flounder, but you get to be together, or you stare at each other sadly once a quarter and don’t get anything at all. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated.”

“How?”

“What if your choice is actually ‘do I want to be kissing Sokka when I see him once a quarter, or do I not want to be kissing Sokka at all?’”

“So you’re saying, it’s not all or nothing.”

“Right. If you need a partner who’s going to be there all the time, you can still keep your eye out for one of those. That’s literally no different than what you’re doing now. You don’t have to give that up to _also_ be with Sokka when you can.”

“And what if that just makes it harder to let him go again?”

Suki sighs. “You’re going to have to figure out if it’s worth the risk for yourself. Polyamory isn’t for everyone.”

Zuko isn’t sure whether he’s going to take her advice or not when the next council meeting comes around and it’s been an entire year that he and Sokka have been actively, knowingly pining for each other. Because the look in Sokka’s eyes is always just a little sad, when they see each other, and a little resigned. (Zuko might be reading a little too much detail into it, but he thinks he’s right about the gist.)

And then he walks into Sokka’s room their first evening there and almost swallows his tongue.

Sokka’s hair is down, brushing both shoulders. Zuko hasn’t seen him like this since they were living rough, plotting against the Firelord. As though he’s dreaming, his feet carry him over to Sokka, and his fingers stroke through the liberated wolftail.

“You like it like this, huh?” Sokka’s smirking, but also slightly guarded.

“It’s _hot_ ,” says Zuko’s mouth without his permission. But that isn’t the whole answer he wants to give, so he thinks for a few seconds and comes up with, “You shouldn’t wear it down all the time though.”

“Yeah? Why not?”

“You’re a warrior. You _earned_ your wolftail. It wouldn’t be right for you not to wear it anymore. It wouldn’t be _you._ It is _really_ attractive, though,” he adds without thinking about it.

Sokka’s smile is genuine, and kind of amazed.

“Zuko?”

“Yeah?”

“I am _really_ close to just kissing you right now and dealing with the consequences later. Do you still not want that?”

“I _never_ didn’t want that,” says Zuko, and kisses him.

This time, he doesn’t break it. This time, he ends up in Sokka’s lap with both hands wound through his hair, and Sokka’s hands wind into his as he kisses him back.

They don’t break apart until a creak of floorboards alerts them to the fact they have company. Suki is leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, grinning like a catogator.

“You can stop looking smug any time now,” Zuko grumbles at her, but he can’t keep the smile off his face.

“Nope. Also just because you got your act together doesn’t mean you get to spend all week hogging my boyfriend. I don’t get to see him that often either.” Sokka grins and holds out an arm for her, and she crawls onto the bed and folds into his side.

Zuko doesn’t _want_ Suki, but he _loves_ her, and he doesn’t think this poses any impediment at all.

“What changed?” asks Sokka, smile dimming. “I’m still not giving up my position. And you _better_ not be planning on giving up yours.”

“Having obligations isn’t stopping us from wanting this,” says Zuko. “So why bother fighting it any longer? We can keep our commitments, and just…not. Just love each other.”

Sokka’s smile is impossibly bright.

“I love you too.”

“Don’t make it sound like you came up with the idea yourself,” puts in Suki. Sokka turns his grin on her.

“Did you set this up?”

She grins back at him. “Just giving a little push here and there.”

“I love you so much,” Sokka tells her, and leans in to kiss her. “I love you both.”

It isn’t going to be perfect. But it doesn’t need to be. It’s love, and that’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, you can follow me [on tumblr](https://khashanakalashtar.tumblr.com).  
> I am literally always down for [this ask game.](https://khashanakalashtar.tumblr.com/post/625660382487461889/rageprufrock-lets-go-i-will-love-you-if-you)


End file.
